It is becoming commonplace for mobile robots to be used around the home. For example, there are mobile robots that are designed specifically for vacuum cleaning and also ones which are designed for floor mopping. Also, mobile robots may be used in the home as mobile sentries. Such mobile sentries are equipped with suitable sensor suites to enable them to navigate a household, or office space, autonomously and detect abnormal conditions such as elevated heat levels or intruders into the area.
Common to such mobile robots is the requirement for them to move autonomously and so they are typically equipped with a rechargeable power source in the form of a battery pack in order to decouple the robot from dependence on wall-mounted power sockets. Typically the robot will be configured with an internal power monitoring routine so that it has a level of self-awareness relating to the level of electrical power that remains. When power levels are low, the robot is able to make its way back to a docking station with which the robot can connect in order to replenish its battery pack.
Mobile robot docking stations principally are provided with an electrical charging system having a set of contacts. The contacts are engageable with complementary contacts on the robot in order to provide an electrical charging current to the robot. However, docking stations may also have the facility to provide radio signals or other emissions in order to assist the robot in locating the docking station. Still further, in some robotic vacuum cleaner applications, the docking stations are equipped with dust extracting devices which are able to empty the dust bin of the mobile robot when it becomes full, thereby removing this frequent task from the user so as to increase the autonomy of the robot.
However, with such complexity come drawbacks. Often, mobile docking stations are large bulky items which need to be placed close to a power socket in a room of a home. Their physical presence has a significant visual impact and this detracts from the overriding principle of mobile robots that they should minimize impact on the user.
It is with these issues in mind that the invention has been devised.